Joy

"Although joy is something which manifests itself visibly, at the bottom it is spiritual as to its source and nature. That is why, apart from God, 

'even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness' (Prov 14:13). 

It is true that the people of God in every age have known in their hearts the joy of the Lord; but all their rejoicings have been tempered by a somber note, as they faced the uncertainties and problems inevitably present in human life this side of the Kingdom. 

At the coming of the King all this will be changed: He will come to 

 'comfort all that mourn...to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness' (Isa 61:2-3)."

---Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom, pg. 220---

A new set of wheels...finally!!!

About a month and a half ago Mike was rear-ended on the highway here in Fort Worth resulting in enough damage to our precious Honda CRV that it ended up being written off. Thankfully no one was injured and the guy who hit him had insurance (an extra blessing down here judging from the many stories we've been told). It's been a long, slow, patience-testing battle with the insurance company since then, some of the complications arising out of the fact that our vehicle was still registered in Canada and the other half of the complications...well, we are not sure... :). Finally, this week on Monday we went in to sign the paperwork and received the long-awaited cheque.

The vehicle hunt didn't start on Monday...it had started weeks back as we've been watching our calendar and the very quickly approaching date of our return to Canada. But on Monday night Mike suggested something we hadn't looked into much yet: the possibility of buying privately. And so we started working our way through craigslist.com. I was a little nervous about buying privately just because it did not have quite the amount of accountability to the customer as a dealership would; but, in the hopes of maybe saving a dime or two I looked and one of the most resent posts was a 2004 Nissan Xterra priced a couple thousand below what I knew from some of my research to be its retail value. Now, that can also trigger a number of warning signs: "If it's too good to be true, it probably is", but I decided to give the seller a call the next morning for curiosity's sake and to see if we could at least take a look at it. To my surprise, in our phone conversation, as I was working my way through a list of questions, came up the tidbit of information that this guy was actually a pastor of a church in the area. We went to look at it that afternoon and instantly hit it off with him, especially with the common ground of our faith and the fact that Mike is attending Southwestern Seminary. We spent more of the time talking about church and school than we did the vehicle. :) We spent the rest of that day in contact with him, the Canadian border (since we will have to import it), doing vehicle history research, looking at other options, and praying. Then this morning we made our final decision: to purchase the vehicle. The paperwork was signed this afternoon and then we drove home our new set of wheels:

Thank you to all those of you who were praying with us about the whole situation through the last couple of months! It was so appreciated. And the Lord took care of us! :)

The Shekinah Glory and Palm Sunday

she·ki·nah/SHəKHēˈnä/  to reside, to dwell

This "visible manifestation of the Divine Presence" had resided with the nation of Israel since the day in which they were called out of Egypt. It was the pillar of fire by night; the cloud of smoke that guided them by day. He who was their protection, their glory, their God, had set them apart by His dwelling presence and their unique relationship with Him. But in the sad days when the kingdom of Israel rejected the very God who resided among them His shekinah glory departed from them.
   

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When  the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD'S house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them...The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. 
--- Eze 10:18-19; 11:23 ---

As a nation they were scattered,                               
                                  at the mercy of the Gentile captors,
                                  stripped of their past glory,
                                  without a true relationship with their God.

This is the state in which Israel remained to that day, 500 years later, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, humbly seated on the colt of a donkey. That day He, the incarnate Shekinah glory, returned to the city following the same course through which the glory had departed (and the same path through which He will come again - Eze 43:1-12). His presence there was an offer of Himself to restore His glory among them, an offer to redeem the kingdom which was lost, an offer to once again be their God, an offer to reside with them as their Messianic King. Their shouts of  "hosanna" could be misinterpreted for their acceptance of this offer but insight into their hearts (and their shouts of  "crucify Him" only days later) show that little had changed since the day when they had rejected Him and their nation had crumbled.

In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

For the heart of this people has become dull,

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return, 

And I would heal them.'

--- Matt 13:14-15 ---

   

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 
 --- John 1:11 ---

When {Jesus} approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it.  
--- Luke 19:41 ---

His Holy Name

"It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went...I will vindicate the holiness of My great name...Then the nations will know that I am the Lord," declares the Lord God.

--- Ezekiel 36: 22-23 ---

Over the past several weeks I have been working my way through the book of Ezekiel (as outlined in the Word of Life Quiet Time Diary); and though it has challenged me on many fronts one thing I have particularly noticed is an often repeated phrase: "for My name" (Ezek 20:9, 14, 22, 39; 36:20-23; 43:7-8).  The significance is this: on these words hinge both the Lord's rejection of and the promises of the eventual restoration of His people, Israel. 

Israel's failure to hold to the covenant He made with them at the time of Moses was not just a simple disobedience with simple consequences. As God's specific viceroy they held a great responsibility before all the other nations and their disobedience brought, not shame to them, but to the God they were representing. "My holy name...you have profaned among the nations" (Ezek 36:22). The word "profaned" carries with it the idea of making something commonly ordinary; secular. It is the opposite of setting apart; it is in direct contrast to holiness. His character - holiness - required that He reject, for a time, and judge the profaning nation of Israel with the purpose of vindicating His name. His glory is what is at stake.

But God's character functions in perfect balance and His name is not accurately vindicated ending at judgement alone. The same name that caused him to reject and judge the nation of Israel is also the foundation on which all the promises made to Israel rest. Would not the same nations who questioned the holiness of God because of Israel's failure at representing Him also question His holiness, faithfulness, sovereignty, and goodness should He reject them forever and therefore nullify the promises He had made to them since the time of Abraham? Would not Israel also, as the recipient of yet-unfulfilled promises, be able to question the name of their God? God is well-aware of this and at the same time Israel is undergoing His judgement He renews and makes a new promise to them as a nation. As during the judgement in the wilderness where God resolved to pour out His wrath on them but said, "I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned." (Ezek 20:22) so also, God promises to take His people, Israel, from among the nations and bring them back into their own land. "Then they will know that I am the Lord." (Ezek 36:38) And on that yet-coming day the glory will be to His holy name!

If we are faithless, He remains faithful,

for He cannot deny Himself.

---2 Timothy 2:13---

Though Israel's promises are not all necessarily mine, their same God is! I'm so thankful that He deals with me according to His name. Should the guarantee of the promises of my salvation rest on me it would have long ago been lost. But praise Him "for He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust" (Psa 103: 14). By faith in the work of His Son on the cross He has removed my sin "as far as the east is from the west" (Psa 103:12). And even when "we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim 2:13). Because I am still prone to failure and to misrepresent the One who saved me, He promises to graciously discipline which, though difficult while under it is not His rejection of me but rather evidence that I am His child and produces, in the end, sweet sanctification (Heb 12:5-11). And all this for the glory of His great name!